


Switched

by pricklyteeth



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Other, Soulmate AU, Xiukai - Freeform, bodyswitch AU, merfolk, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-10 05:01:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14730443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pricklyteeth/pseuds/pricklyteeth
Summary: Jongin is a human that has always been drawn to the ocean, lives in a quiet beach town, but even so, on the day he's supposed to switch, he didn't think he was going to wake up in the body of a merperson.





	Switched

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #: L8 (lmao bc coincidentally this was L8 as fuck)  
> Pairing: minseok/jongin  
> Monster(s): all manner of merfolk  
> Rating: mature  
> Warnings: non-human biology? is that a thing that needs to be warned for?  
> Author's Note: sorry for makin the mods wait but i hope anyone who reads likes this !!

 

 

Jongin wakes up underwater.  
  
At first he thinks it’s one of those terrible nightmares he gets where he’s choking and drowning. Like he’s under some kind of physical duress as a symbolic manifestation of his psychological unrest from the stress of reality. But after struggling a little, he realizes.  
  
_He can breathe._  
  
It’s nothing like breathing in air, but it’s not like breathing in water, either, with the lungs he’s accustomed to.  
  
Something occurs to him then.  
  
He’s looking down at what should be his body, but isn’t. Today is exchange day. The day he switches bodies with his soulmate— _these aren’t his lungs._  
  
Instead of legs, Jongin has… fins? Shit, shit, _shit._  
  
Panic seizes him, the word beginning to blur, dissonant echoes resounding in his mind as his chest constricts. He tries to cling to something solid, something familiar, but everything is foreign and slippery and every movement is suspended.  
  
The lapse of time it takes to move makes his limbs discordant with the way his mind understands the body it is usually attached to, the way it moves in the world of air and earth and concrete.  
  
Jongin forces himself to breathe. He begins to talk himself down, trying to remember the therapy techniques he’s learned, tries to shift his focus to physical things he can see and count.  
  
One-two-three-four-five fingers. There’s webbing between his soulmate’s fingers, but there are five of them on each hand.  
  
Breathe in, two-three-four, breathe out, two-three-four.  
  
Tracing down the sides of his soulmate’s arms, there are a couple more sets of fins. One following down the forearms and another bracketing. One-two, one-two. Would they count as four fins in total or would they be considered two fins with a little split between them?

Is this _real_? Is _any_ of this real?  
  
Jongin traces fingers down along the fins in disbelief, feeling the way they grow spiney towards the bone before fanning out into more delicate iridescent webbing. It’s gorgeous, but he’s not sure how real any of this feels at all. He keeps waiting to wake up.  
  
Looking down, he notices his soulmate’s torso—strong, Jongin remarks to himself. It ends just below the v-line of his hips, bracketed by the v of their...? Jongin doesn’t know what to call it. It’s like there’s an extra mantel of cartilage or bone that follows his v-line, again covered in iridescent scales, catching the light that funnels through the ceiling of the room in various shades of chromy blues and greens.  
  
Following the v-ring around their hips is the rest of their tail, powerful even in the awkward undulating Jongin has to do to try to get himself to stay upright. So...Jongin thinks to himself, his soulmate… is a...merperson?  
  
He wouldn’t know what else to call them, but they seem to fit the bill: human top half...fishy? bottom half… Lives underwater…

Jongin is honestly just proud that he hasn’t fainted yet. He’s being remarkably objective about this, he thinks.  
  
His soulmate is so pale compared to him; they seem to be faintly green, from what Jongin can tell by his arms. Their fingers are more webbed than a human’s, nailbeds far narrower, almost as if they could be claws, only they seem to be rounded off. Have they been filed down? On the sides of either of his forearms, there are the smaller fins, flanking his wrists, the pretty iridescent scales pebbling down into his..skin? Is what merpeople have _called_ skin?  
  
He gently draws his fingers over the skin covering his soulmate’s hand, feeling how soft and almost.. slick it feels.

It’s almost like touching a manta ray, or a dolphin, but not quite. Like if he were to somehow touch a manta ray through a jellyfish. That’s as close Jongin can get to describing the sensation.

He wonders what it’d be like, to hold hands with his soulmate, wonders whether his soulmate would even like to have their hands held.  
  
The water carries light winking over from an alcove to him and, feeling drawn to it, he makes his way over.

There, he finds a reflective surface. Merpeople have mirrors too, apparently. Looking into it though, is what has Jongin gasping. His soulmate is drop dead gorgeous.  
  
Where Jongin’s eyes are sleepy, his soulmate’s are sharp, piercing. There’s something luminescent about them. Upon further inspection of them, they’re yellow, and if Jongin gets close enough to the mirror, they... glow _._

His soulmate is absolutely _breathtaking_.  
  
Tracing along his soulmate’s jaw, he notices that the iridescent scales come up their neck, framing their face. Their hair is a little longer, and where Jongin would have ears (would these even be considered ears?) his soulmate has these paper thin fins that web out and then taper up to an angled point.  
  
Their lips are remarkably soft under their fingers. It curls prettily, like ribbon when Jongin smiles with them. They have tiny but remarkably sharp teeth, which Jongin finds out the hard way after accidentally breaking skin on them when he goes to curiously poke his fingers around.  
  
The cut heals near immediately though, the single drop of blue blood managing to spill out crystallizing into what looks to be a piece of sapphire.  
  
Everything just keeps getting increasingly unreal, and Jongin doesn’t think he can be surprised about anything anymore after this.  
  
He picks it up, lifting it to taste it with his tongue just to be sure (he’s seen it on tv, somewhere) and it definitely...tastes like what he’d think a crystal would taste.  
  
Jongin wonders what it would be like to kiss his soulmate. What it’d be like to feel these lips with his own, explore this body with his own fingers, his own mouth. He's surprised at his own forwardness.  
  
But he can’t help himself; he's curious. He wonders if his soulmate has a significant other already, wonders if his soulmate even knows what’s going on, knows that they’re going to be in Jongin’s body.  
  
Letting himself float away from the mirror, he despairs a little.  
  
What if his soulmate is really far? Jongin has no idea which ocean he is in, and would have no way of being able to tell, even if he reached the surface somehow. There are no cultural markers that could possibly guide him, and it’s not like he speaks...Mer.  
  
He’s a little afraid to venture out from this cave, to be honest. What if he got his soulmate _eaten._ There’d really be no way for him to contact them then.  
  
Jongin has to stop himself. Would they even want this? What if they’re already attached to someone here? Someone who is… more like them, even if there _were_ a way to communicate to soulmates in the ocean. Jongin has no way of being able to tell this, either.  
  
He doesn’t even know how a merperson-human relationship would work. If it could even work. How does merperson sex even work? Would his soulmate _want_ to have sex with Jongin? _Could_ his soulmate have sex with Jongin?  
  
He feels his face flush a little at the thought. His soulmate could probably eat him if they so wanted—it would probably be easier than carrying out a fullblown relationship with him. Weren’t there all those stories of fishermen getting lured to their deaths by merfolk?

Besides, as much as some people trusted the bond between soulmates, there were many that ignored their bonds completely.

Who's to say that his soulmate would feel the same way he does? Not everyone is willing to go any further after exchange day, not even with soulmates from...the same species. Would merpeople be considered a separate species?  
  
Jongin tries to maneuver his way back out of the alcove, flailing around and trying to learn how to swim with all these extra balancing appendages but only one tail rather than two legs.  
  
Jongin’s sure it’s majestic when merfolk do it, but he’s especially glad for all the extra room and the spaciousness of his soulmate’s home, which allows him to awkwardly wiggle his way into the right direction before swimming forward.  
  
Forward and back seem to be easy enough for him to comprehend but turning...turning is a little bit of a struggle.  
  
After going back into the room, he notices that his soulmate sleeps in a giant clam shell. He hadn’t really paid attention earlier in his panic, but that feels a little excessive.

 _Way to break stereotypes soulmate_ , Jongin thinks to himself. The ceiling of the room is really high, but he’s not sure if it’s just the style or how merfolk like to have their sleeping spaces.  
  
Swimming forward, Jongin begins looking at the natural alcoves that make the shelves, peering at the various items that his soulmate keeps in their room. He feels a little nosy going through his soulmate’s room, but again, he can’t deny his curiosity.

He’s intrigued by the jewelry and various wares and art that decorates the space. He’s also really endeared by how neat everything is.

He had tried to clean up his own room in the apartment a little, since he didn’t want his soulmate to think he was a mess, but everything really seems to have a place here. It’s pristine. If merfolk were to have a decorating catalogue, Jongin would think they must feature homes like this, with sunlight filtering through the space, trinkets and jewelry out on display. No clutter whatsoever to be found.  
  
Jongin briefly worries about what his soulmate must think of his room, as he peers closely at a glimmering net of kelp, adorned with various tiny jewels. Is that supposed to be an item of _clothing_?  
  
Before he can venture out from his soulmate’s room, something sounds, coming closer and closer, and Jongin’s immediate instinct is to go back into the giant clam, almost shutting it on his soulmate’s tail in his haste.  
  
He gets an image of another merperson in his mind’s eye before the top of the clam shell is being heaved open, that very merperson appearing before him. Jongin blinks, not understanding what’s happening.  
  
Are merfolk telepathic?  
  
The other merperson continues to look at him, eyes wide and round even in their concern. They’re grey, rather than gold like his soulmate’s eyes. Jongin should have figured there must be genetic diversity among merpeople as well.  
  
The merperson focuses on Jongin again, as if willing him to understand something.  
  
Jongin gets another string of images. An image of his soulmate attending to important… events? Seeing other merpeople, making certain rounds, various ritual ceremonies that Jongin hadn’t the slightest idea were about. Was his soulmate an underwater celebrity of some kind? An important healer?  
  
Jongin tentatively tries to image spell what he’s thinking back, directing images of doctors, of native healers, of public figures and their roles in the human world, hoping the other merperson would understand his question.  
  
_“Kyungsoo,”_ Jongin suddenly hears in his head. Jongin starts, surprised after the rapid-fire image exchange.  
  
The merperson—Kyungsoo—moves over to a shelf, the antennae at their temples, flanking all the way down their tail trailing gracefully behind him. Jongin wonders why they have antennae and his soulmate doesn’t seem to have them. Maybe the ones at the ends of their ears count? Kyungsoo reaches up to take a coral wreath from a stand to set it upon Jongin’s head. _Oh. That Kind of public figure,_ Jongin thinks.  
  
Kyungsoo dips his head in acknowledgment, sending images of the path he is to take from here; down a maze of hallways, into a chamber.  
  
There seems to be a special feast Jongin needs to attend in his soulmate’s place? Maybe they were aware of this day, so they had prepared it for him? Jongin is still unsure about all of this.  
  
_Your Majesty,_ Jongin hears, still feeling deeply unnerved about all of this. His soulmate is underwater _royalty._ Jongin is barely managing his first degree on land, how the fuck is he supposed to navigate the ins and outs of underwater social expectations as the soulmate of an underwater _Royal?_  
  
Kyungsoo blows an air bubble at Jongin’s face (or rather, his soulmate’s face) to get his attention, which is the first time Jongin’s seen their mouth move. _Your Majesty, you should leave the bloodstone here,_ Kyungsoo thinks at him.  
  
_Bloodstone?_ Jongin projects back.  
  
Kyungsoo sends him an image of the sapphire gem Jongin had picked up earlier. Jongin looks down at it, not realizing he still had it clutched in the loose fist of his soulmate’s hand.  
  
_Why?_ He asks, without thinking about it.  
  
_It’ll help you find your way back later,_ Kyungsoo responds. _Your people are waiting, Prince—well I suppose it wouldn’t be quite right calling you Prince Minseok would it?_  
  
Minseok, huh? So they _did_ know it was their soulmate’s exchange day.  
  
_It would be quite difficult not being able to tell you’re clearly not merkin, much less Prince Minseok, your highness,_ Kyungsoo projects sarcastically. _You do project awfully loudly, though, I don’t imagine you have difficulty communicating your emotions when you are in your own body?_  
  
Jongin frowns a little at that. _We communicate a little differently. Projecting like this is often the way people of my kind communicate internally._  
  
_You have internal and external modes of communication? How odd._  
  
Jongin shrugs a shoulder.  
  
Kyungsoo balks. _What does that mean? Why did you do that?_  
  
Jongin laughs and air bubbles escape his mouth, and Kyungsoo still looks boggled. _Don’t we have merfolk to see, Kyungsoo?_  
  
_Well, yes—_  
  
Jongin sets the bloodstone on the pillow of his soulmate’s clamshell bed, moving to close it shut. _We should get going then, shall we?_  
  
_That we shall,_ Kyungsoo responds, expression changing to amusement.

  
—

  
  
  
Minseok wakes up on land. And not because he accidentally sleep-swam to shore like he used to as a merchild. No, this… is definitely not the beach.  
  
He’s in a building. A human building.

He wrestles a little with the strangely textured net that seems to have been thrown over him, getting caught in it further. He tries to kick his way out of it, only to crash with it onto the floor.  
  
Minseok hisses at the pain shooting up from his tailbone before clapping a hand over his mouth. Land gravity be damned, that was a human noise that escaped his mouth there, at the end of his hiss. There was a vocalization, he heard it.  
  
Which means—  
  
“JONGIN, DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE TOOTHPASTE IS?”  
  
Oh.  
  
Oh no. That’s _definitely_ not mer.  
  
Wrestling himself out of the strangely tightly woven net, Minseok throws it off of himself, looking down at his body.  
  
Legs. His soulmate has _legs_.  
  
He’s going to have to see the elder about this.  
  
“JONGIN—”  
  
Minseok covers his soundholes. They’re much lower on his soulmate’s head than his own, he finds. Are all humans this _loud?_  
  
A partition in the wall swings open and the source of the sounds pokes their head into the room.  
  
“Jongin? Hey, what are you doing on the floor man-”  
  
The human seems to ask something, gesturing to where Minseok is laying on the ground.  
  
Oh, so that’s what they’re asking. Did he make a noise when he fell earlier?  
  
Minseok sends the human a recap of what just happened a couple clams ago, since they seem to be close to his soulmate and therefore somewhat trustworthy.  
  
The human rears back suddenly, hitting their head against the doorjamb.  
  
“Holy shit, Jongin, I just? Did you—”  
  
This isn’t going to work at all, Minseok thinks. Why humans speak with their feeding parts is beyond him.  
  
_Hello, yes. My name is Minseok, your friend and I have switched bodies_ —  
  
The human subsequently grabs their skull between their hands and makes a loud anguished sound. “Fuck, oh fuck, this isn’t real. Oh my god. I’ve officially lost it.”  
  
Minseok winces. _If you could stop sending me painful panic emotions, and just calm down for a moment—_  
  
The human drops down to curl up on themselves, holding their folded legs to their chest. Minseok might have thought they looked like a prawn or crawfish if he wasn’t preoccupied—they still haven’t stopped hurling painful panic emotions at him.  
  
Minseok groans, and to his bewilderment, the sound comes out of his mouth. It’s so odd that immediate expressions come out of their feeding holes. Sure, merpeople make sounds through their feeding holes, but more for the purpose of navigation and locating prey.  
  
Being out of the water makes everything sound so...different, and human ears don’t seem to be particularly good for echolocation either. Good neptune, what do they even use these things for?  
  
Minseok feels his soulmate’s hands, then their face. Speaking of being out of the water, he feels absolutely parched. There must be water in this place somewhere; surely, humans need water too?  
  
He makes to sit up, looking down at his soulmate’s long, ashy legs peeking out the bottoms of the leg garments he’s wearing. Could use some sea slug cream.  
  
More than that though, he doesn’t know how to operate these things, and the one other human that could be of any help is just staring at him absolutely dumbfounded. Possibly also in fear.  
  
Minseok is on his own. It’s easy enough from his position sitting up to pull himself up and onto the bed with his upper body strength, that’s not too different.  
  
But gravity is so much less kind on land, the world doesn’t seem to move with the body as much here. Every movement seems to take simultaneously more and less effort than it would in the water.  
  
He’s about to try to test his soulmate’s legs when the human in the entryway finally makes some kind of acknowledgement of his existence. They’re saying words, but Minseok doesn’t speak whatever human language it is that they speak.  
  
_Could you just_ —Minseok projects at him— _I don’t speak human._  
  
_Minseok,_ they project back, finally. _You said_ — _You said your name was Minseok?_  
  
At last, something he can work with. _Yes. My name is Minseok, Prince of the Northeasterly Seas._

 

—

  
  
It sounds like whalesong, Jongin thinks to himself. He’s inside what he can only describe as a giant pantheon, at his soulmate’s place beside their parents, the queens, who have started a song.  
  
A lot of it is projected, as if the merfolk have some kind of shared mind, where they are able to sing and harmonize with one another in their heads, but some notes just vibrate off their bodies. And at certain points that seem entirely choreographed, various members of the circle blow bubble rings, sometimes encircling or going inside of previously blown rings.  
  
The rings dance with one another, expanding and contracting to the cadence of the song, something deep and haunting and makes something in Jongin’s chest swell with how beautiful and almost lonely it sounds, even as it’s sung as a community.  
  
He’s toying with the bracelet that covers the markings on his soulmate’s arm—the ones that match his, feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. He doesn’t know the song, or where or what he’s supposed to be doing, and Kyungsoo had said that he thinks really loudly, so he tries to stay quiet, preoccupied.  
  
Even outside of the song, which fills the space and rolls out far beyond the pantheon, his soulmate’s ears pick up So Much. The ocean is so loud; there’s so much going on, movement absolutely everywhere.  
  
If Jongin so much as tilts his head or moves his soulmate’s ears, focuses on any direction, he’ll be able to catch sounds of scuttling, or the current passing through something, or something unbelievably delicate, a flick of a fin, the undulation of a jelly. Jongin has never been made so aware of so much movement and proximations of distance through hearing before in his life.  
  
It’s surreal, and so, so breathtaking. Jongin feels a pang of regret then, that he really only has one day in his soulmate’s body, to be able to experience the world through their eyes, their ears.  
  
One of his soulmate’s mothers turns to him then, as if sensing this, reaching for his wrist to stroke over his hand, not unkindly. Her eyes flash, though, before she joins back into the song.  
  
Jongin doesn’t know if he should be afraid or comforted, but he’s sure every cue he’s trying to interpret are from a culture he’s clearly unfamiliar with, so he tries to hope for the best, despite his initial reaction of intimidation and fear.  
  
His soulmate’s mothers seem fierce and unforgiving, but Jongin supposes that maybe one might need to be to rule an ocean.  
  
  
  
  
  
He tries to adjust to Minseok’s life as best he can. The realization he had in the pantheon of how deeply privileged he was, to be able to experience this world, one beyond his wildest imaginations, pushes him to try to absorb as much as he can, be the best replacement he could possibly be.  
  
Not that it sounds like he could ever measure up, from what he’s heard of his soulmate. Just listening to Kyungsoo talk about his royal duties and how Minseok usually approaches making decisions about things makes his head spin. His soulmate really sounds like he has everything figured out.  
  
It could possibly just be what the job demands of him, Jongin thinks, sending blessings and good fortune to the nth merchild of the day in his ‘seeing of the people’, as Kyungsoo, who floats near motionlessly to the right and just behind the seat Jongin’s perched on, had said earlier.  
  
Jongin isn’t sure he understands the physics behind the way Kyungsoo moves, but he thinks it has to do with the undulating antennae-tendrils he’s got going on.  
  
The merchild in front of him sneezes, red skin flashing yellow in places as he nearly knocks his crown of prickly (horns? Jongin wouldn’t know what else to call them) into Jongin’s chest.  
  
Luckily, his tentacles, plus a couple that shoot out from his back, stabilize him by wrapping around Jongin’s arms and pushing back against his chest.  
  
As the little one sheepishly apologizes, Jongin marvels at how drastically different merpeople present before their parent scoops them up, sending apologies before scuttling away.  
  
The depictions of merfolk in human mythical media doesn’t come close to the diversity that Jongin has witnessed in the few hours he’s been awake in his soulmate’s body.  
  
Jongin likes this enough. He’s learned to blow bubble rings, and blows them over the merchildren’s faces, encouraging them to play back, which they’re only delighted to do.  
  
This is the easy part though, Kyungsoo had said, sitting pretty while blessing children and resolving petty conflicts.  
  
The ‘easy part’ also extended to learning how to swim properly because he was still a little jerky, and Kyungsoo had left Jongin in Zitao’s charge for that one. Zitao is essentially Minseok’s bodyguard, in Jongin’s mind. Kyungsoo never really gave him a title.  
  
He kind of showed up out of absolutely no where, and was initially very on edge about everything Jongin was trying to do with his soulmate’s body.  
  
Going by Zitao’s expressions, perhaps he was trying some dangerous things in his attempts to get faster and more comfortably agile in his soulmate’s body.  
  
In any case, he slowly began to ease up as Jongin got more comfortable (and a little more tired out) and Jongin found that he was actually quite pleasant company.  
  
_Hey, Zitao?_  
  
_You can call me Tao, if you like, your kindness._  
  
_Oh, okay. Tao?_  
  
_Yes?_  
  
_What’s my soulmate like?_  
  
_Fair and kind. Often takes things upon himself that he doesn’t have to because he likes ensuring that things are carried out properly._  
  
_Okay, but what is he really like? What’s his personality, like is he just Mr. Perfect all the time, and sacrifices everything for the people and what’s best, or..._  
  
Tao stretches out, his tail, somewhat resembling that of a lobster or a scorpion’s with its plating, flashing from green to purple to pink in the sunlight that casts down in sheets across the reef.

 _Well,_ Tao starts, tail flicking as he thinks. _He’s humble and dedicated, sometimes quite stubborn when he feels very strongly about a decision or a specific outcome…_  
  
_He’s not particularly rebellious when it comes to shortcomings, if that’s what you are looking for, he has a great grasp of his sense of duty. Asides, there isn’t a lot of room for rebellion or conflict of interest down here, as you’ll see. We’re quite different from the surface world in that way._  
  
Jongin doesn’t have any reason to believe otherwise, so he takes Tao’s word for it.  
  
The easy part even extended to touring around the city surrounding the palace, most of which extended underneath some sheet rock in massive caverns, the size of which Jongin couldn’t really wrap his head around. In the absence of sunlight, his soulmate’s eyes seemed to get ever sharper, to see the glow that other merfolk emitted as he went around to pay his regards, or acknowledge the people, as Kyungsoo had said.  
  
They’re traveling in a pod—various royal family members flanked by staff in a kind of traveling parade. It’s kind of fun, if a little performative and superficial.  
  
They pass by a ring of austere-looking officials, separated from the rest of the merfolk in an enclave overlooking the cavern, and Jongin does as the rest of the family does, nodding in deference as they pass by.  
  
_Keep looking forward_ , Kyungsoo commands quietly. Jongin hasn’t quite got the hang of projecting, but he can tell at least when something is being projected privately or shared with all of the minds in the vicinity. This one is directed just to him.  
  
Jongin feels some pressure around his skull, but it stops as they move further.  
  
_That’s the elder council_ , Kyungsoo projects. _Don’t let them in, and don’t ask anyone else about them, got it?_  
  
Jongin nods, tail flicking out behind him. He doesn’t trust himself to project back.  
  
So _that’s_ the not so easy part.

  
  
—

  
  
  
The human’s name is Baekhyun, Minseok finds out.  
  
He’s—spunky to say the least. Chatty but oddly deferential everytime he remembers that Minseok is royal.  
  
Like now, as he’s trying to help him walk out into the ‘living room’, as Baekhyun had called it. Minseok doesn’t understand why there would be a room designated for living; it’s not as if you aren’t living when you aren’t there.  
  
_Then the other foot, Prince Minseok!_ That would be Baekhyun.  
  
This blasted _walking_ thing that humans do. It’s preposterous. Minseok’s accustomed to moving these muscles in tandem, but humans have to go and be bipedal and alternate limbs to move around.  
  
He has to clutch Baekhyun’s forelimb to keep upright, but he has trouble ‘shifting his weight’ as Baekhyun instructs him to. It’s even more confusing, because he’s accustomed to being able to send vibrations out to confirm where things are proximally through echolocation, but human ears are hardly adequate in that regard.  
  
Minseok lets out a sigh, and Baekhyun, bless him, looks over, concerned.  
  
_What is it, your highness?_  
  
_It’s nothing, just_ — _human legs are very rigid, and the air you breathe has so little moisture. It’s a lot to get adjusted to._  
  
_Oh, I’m sure it is. But that’s to be expected, right? It just takes a little patience, you know? Human have to learn this walking business as infants too, you know. We actually started by swimming first, just like you!_  
  
Minseok nods at this. Baekhyun’s eyes are shining, and he looks so insistently positive. He wonders if his soulmate is anything like his friend. The sunlight streaming through the windows catches on Baekhyun’s hair, highlighting the dust motes floating around the room, and Minseok rears back a little, suddenly aware of the amount of focus that human eyes are capable of in the daylight.  
  
_What is it?_ Baekhyun inquires, curious.  
  
_Humans are diurnal,_ Minseok answers. _Diurnal, and have sharper day vision than is really necessary underwater. It took me by surprise is all._  
  
_Whoa, that’s really neat, but it makes sense given that sharper vision is a little more recent on the evolutionary timescale for our species, at least. But like, shit, where even do we split off from merpeople? I bet merpeople’s evolutionary adaptations are way more metal, like_ — _shit I’m rambling, did you need some water or something? I’ve got to brush my teeth, my breath still tastes pretty gnarly._  
  
Minseok blinks at him, not really following. _Water… would be lovely,_ Minseok decides on projecting.  
  
_Alright, let me get out of your hair for a second, just hold onto this desk if you need to, or if you want to try to walk around on your own, you can, I’ll be back in a bit, okay?_  
  
Minseok nods. _Very well._  
  
Leaning back against the desk, Minseok surveys his soulmate’s room, fingers moving to trace over the markings they share on the inside of his soulmate’s left arm. It’s a smattering of symbols, indicating the position of the planets and the stars at the time of the switch. Despite how incredibly at odds he feels with the environment around him, with trying to move in his soulmate’s body, he still feels that tug of familiarity. This is his soulmate, after all.  
  
His soulmate seems to have a nice frame, arms and legs adequately muscled from what he’s seen and felt. Looking around at their dwelling though, he worries a little at the clutter. Is his soulmate a slob?  
  
He makes his way over to a chest of chests, frowning at the odd piece of furnishing when he catches sight of himself, or rather, his soulmate’s self, in long body-length reflective plate mounted on the wall. Alright, so an attractive slob.  
  
Moving closer to the inspect his soulmate’s features, Minseok lets his curiosity get the better of him. For a human, his soulmate is… rather becoming; square chin, soft tousled hair framing kind sleepy eyes, solid proportions, golden tan skin, full lips, oh he’s _pretty._

There’s something so familiar about him, too.

He’s about to lift the garments covering the rest of his soulmate’s body when Baekhyun comes back into the room, looking smug as he hands him a small vessel containing water. So this is how humans transport their water. Huh.  
_  
__Checking Jongin out?_ Baekhyun asks.  
_  
__Whatever do you mean?_  
_  
__You know_ — _seeing if he’s cute, or your type or whatever._  
_  
__Are you asking if I think my soulmate is attractive? Because if that’s what you’re asking, then the answer is yes._  
_  
_ Minseok huffs a little, feeling a little frustrated at the way Baekhyun manages to confuse him with human colloquialisms even as they communicate through universal telepathy. He upends the vessel over himself, since the mouth is open already, paying attention to his soulmate’s throat, since it seems particularly dry.  
_  
_ It doesn’t seem to do very much. Maybe humans need more water than Minseok initially anticipated. Seeing Baekhyun’s flabbergasted expression though, gives him pause.  
_  
__What is it?_  
_  
__Um, Prince Minseok, why did you just dump that_ entire _cup of water over yourself?_  
_  
__I felt dehydrated._ Minseok peers down at his soulmate’s flesh, which seems to grow tighter, bumps raising across the skin. _Your species doesn’t seem to have particularly permeable dermal tissue, does it?_  
_  
__Well, no,_ Baekhyun responds, hands outstretched as if he wants to do something but for whatever reason, feels awkward about it. _We, well for gas exchange, we do that through our lungs, right, as I’m sure you’ve experienced, breathing is a little different. Um. In the case of liquids and water acquisition, we ingest our fluids, like.. Like this:_ Baekhyun takes his own vessel, puts it to his mouth, and tips it back. His throat works around the fluid, and that seems to be that.  
_  
__How absolutely bizarre,_ Minseok projects, his eyes blinking suddenly when water drips off his hair into one of them.  
_  
__Here, let me get you a towel_ , Baekhyun says, projecting an image of a furry, eyeless beast.  
_  
__Pardon me—a what?_

 

 

It’s only after Minseok has been ‘toweled off’ and changed into dry clothing (with some assistance) that Baekhyun calms down from the massive giggling fit that he’d worked himself into at Minseok’s expense.

He’s sitting across from him now, cross legged, or ‘criss cross applesauce’ as Baekhyun had called it. It’s an incredibly unnatural position to Minseok, but after Baekhyun had showed him how to do it, he found that it was quite comfortable to do in his soulmate’s body.  
_  
_ After being questioned at length about the inner workings of mer biology (it seems to Minseok that biological evolution is his primary area of study), Baekhyun seems appeased enough to begin to answer some of Minseok’s questions.  
_  
__What’s my soulmate like?_  
_  
_ Baekhyun makes a face, but Minseok isn’t really sure what that’s about. _Jongin? Well, Jongin is… He’s nice. He’s really weird and reads a lot._ Baekhyun’s mind supplies snippets of Jongin laying around in bed, in a number of positions, upside down and hanging off the edge, with the blankets bundled around him, focused on something in his hands.  
_  
_ Minseok picks it out, sending the image back to Baekhyun. _What are these?_  
_  
__Those are, uh. Books? They um. Well there’s lots of different kinds, right, and they contain literary works, like stories, usually. Jongin likes mystery novels and thrillers, and he also reads a lot of manhwa—like they’re illustrated stories, like:_ he shows Minseok a couple spreads, pages of rendered images.  
_  
__How interesting. I think for me, at least, my favorite kind of solitary entertainment is connects—_ at Baekhyun’s puzzled expression, he shoots Baekhyun memories of sending electric pulses from finger to finger, hand to hand, across the room, calling it back, until his room is lit with the connected charges.  
_  
_ Baekhyun’s dumbfounded expression is worth the effort of explaining. Minseok shouldn’t feel so comfortable revealing so much to a human, but he does. It’s pleasant and exciting, and learning about human customs and verbage, although challenging and confusing at times, is actually quite fascinating.  
_  
__So what else does my soulmate—Jongin—like to do, do you have any epithets besides weird and nice?_  
_  
__He’s—well—_ Baekhyun beams images of Jongin smiling, dancing, skipping at the beach, squealing and giggling around his other friends, being tickled, running off, skinning his knees after falling off a strange four wheeled contraption.  
_  
_ They have so many memories together, Minseok thinks. Jongin has a home here, with friends and people who care for him, lives with—he stops himself, worried now. _Baekhyun, are you and Jongin...mated?_  
_  
_ At that Baekhyun crosses his arms over himself, forming an 'x' over his chest, shaking his head. _Oh, no_. _nONONOO. Jongin and I are like...siblings. He’s like a...tall...little brother to me. I could never. I_ raised _him._  
_  
_ Something in Baekhyun’s torso makes an odd sound then, surprising them both. _Oh my god are you hungry, I’ve kept you all morning asking you questions. Let’s grab something to eat._  
_  
_ Food. The thought triggers a similar sound at the pit of his torso, and Minseok looks down at his soulmate’s body, a little mortified. Was that the sound of his stomach?

Quickly, Baekhyun pulls a small rectangular device from his pocket, tapping rapidly at it and sending Minseok a quick projection. _We're going to get some food with some friends, if that's okay?_

Minseok tentatively accepts, curious about his soulmate's other friends, and what kind of food humans eat.

Baekhyun holds the device up to his face, mouth parted in an excited grin. “YALL WILL NEVER BELIEVE—JONGIN’S SOULMATE IS A PRINCE FROM THE _OCEAN_????? LIKE. A WHOLE MERDUDE. YOU TWO GOT TIME FOR LUNCH? BECAUSE THIS SHIT IS UN FUCKING REAL I SWEAR ON MY WHOLE LIFE—”

He is apparently making plans with his soulmate’s mutual friends for food acquisition, and Minseok can’t really understand what he’s saying, but the yelling makes him wonder if they’re getting ready for a hunt.  
  
“I FEEL LIKE IT’S PROBABLY LIKE SOMEHOW ILLEGAL TO TALK ABOUT BUT YOU _GUYS._ I KNOW I ONLY TOOK LIKE HALF A YEAR'S WORTH OF BIO BEFORE SWITCHING MY MAJOR BUT—JUST MAKE SURE SEHUN COMES HE’S GOING TO LOSE HIS SHIT!”

 

 

They meet Sehun and Chanyeol at the place someone named Luhan was recommending. Apparently they trust his taste for seafood because his family supplies the fish for this place.  
  
Also apparently, in another life, Luhan swears he’d own one of these restaurants. Maybe a sushi bar or a poke place or something.

Baekhyun likes to supply lots of extraneous information when he’s telling Minseok what is happening. He wouldn’t make a very good assistant, in Minseok’s opinion, but he shall see if their concept of fresh seafood holds up to his standards.

They arrive at the eating establishment, after Baekhyun had convinced him into getting inside of his large noise-making rolling metal carcass, which he operated in conjunction with currents full of other even larger noise-making rolling metal carcasses.  
  
Jarred as he is, Minseok has to admit that it would have taken eons for them to get here on foot, since humans generally don’t seem to be very fast creatures, and Minseok himself really only started getting the hang of bipedal movement mid-morning.  
  
Once they come to a stop, Minseok allows himself to breathe, but his calm doesn’t last for long, as two masked and hooded figures stalk up to the car.  
  
Baekhyun doesn’t look the least bothered though, rolling down the clear partition on his side. “What’s up nerds?”  
  
One of them unzips their hoods covering their face, revealing messy tousled hair, pointed ears, crinkled eyes and an upturned grin. “Hey Baek.”  
  
The other one unzips their mask just enough so they can see their eyes, and lifts a hand with only two digits up, which Minseok takes to be some kind of acceptable human greeting.  
  
The one with the ears leans over onto the car, near ducking his head inside to whisper. “So… how do we know Jongin’s soulmate is a merdude.”  
  
Minseok has no idea what the human is saying, but from the curious staring that he and his companion are doing, they must be talking about him.  
  
Baekhyun peers out behind them before speaking. “Okay, get this. He can’t like. Talk? You have to like.... Loudly think your thoughts at him, like telepathy or something, it’s _wild_.”  
  
Minseok’s about to ask what’s going on, feeling left out, when the one with the ears shifts his attention to him, sending out a tentative projection.  
  
_Hello…?_  
  
Finally.   _Hello Jongin’s friend. You are called ‘Chanyeol’, yes?_

The human with the ears—Chanyeol—backs up and knocks his his head back against the chin of the person who must by default be Sehun, looking bewildered. “Holy motherfucking _shit_.”  
_  
__I’m going to take it that you’re surprised, yes?_  
_  
_ A number of emotions flicker out from the human’s end of the connection as he moves to lean back into the car. _Uh, well, you, yeah, you could say that._  
_  
_ Baekhyun looks back and forth between them, not privy to the conversation. _What’s happening? Can we threeway this call?_  
_  
_ Chanyeol yelps, banging his head against the roof of the car. _You just did, holy shit, fuck, what the fuck!_  
_  
_ Baekhyun grins, laughing at Chanyeol’s pain. “Sehun, you gotta get in on this.”  
_  
_ Sehun unzips the rest of his hood and mask to speak, looking confused. “Okay but how do I—”  
_  
_ “Just think like how you do when I’m embarrassing you in front of Dr. Kim when I come visit you at the aquarium, and he’s there, so you can’t strangle me in front of him.”  
_  
__Why the fuck would you even bring that up as an example?_  
_  
__It worked didn’t it?_ Baekhyun grins.  
_  
_ Minseok tries to smile, since that seems to be the way that humans express kindness and affinity and comfort. _Hello Sehun, I am called Minseok._  
_  
__Whoa. You—definitely don’t sound a thing like Jongin._  
_  
__As I’m sure._  
_  
_ Sehun’s mind sounds like krill, or a massive school of fish, there’s almost a humming from all the various thoughts and questions bouncing about. _How_ — _I have so many questions. How does mer...reproduction work? Do you know where merfolk fit on the evolutionary time frame? How do you breathe underwater, better yet, do you know how your frames handle underwater pressure? Is there a reason why no marine biologists have found any traces of merfolk? Is telepathy limited to merpeople or does it exist beyond_ — _wait, is telepathy even defining of merpeople, or are we just taking your word for it?_  
_  
_ Minseok blinks, not expecting all the questions. He was under the impression that they were here to feed. _Well. humans don’t know an awful lot, i don’t really know how else to put it, but your kind are awfully ignorant, out of most of the surface dwellers. And for the most part, the rest of us like to keep it that way; your kind are also incredibly fear-driven and violent._  
_  
__Reproduction varies largely on the types of merfolk you are talking about, most of us are able to sexually and asexually reproduce, but because merfolk are comprised of an incredibly biologically diverse population, the sexual life cycle is widely various within, between and among merfolk._  
_  
__As for how we breathe, well. Your species is the one with the adaptation of lungs and such. Breathing in water is a primordial trait. We’ve been doing it for much longer. The same thing could be said about bipedalism and all the other adaptations that come with your surface dwelling habit._  
_  
_ Sehun just stares at him, as if stuck by some kind of epiphany. _Could you possibly_ —  
_  
__Bros,_ Chanyeol interjects, _This shit is so legit._  
_  
_ Ignoring Chanyeol, Minseok looks to Sehun, who has disturbing images that relay his intentions to publicise this knowledge. _I am not a specimen, Sehun. Don’t include merfolk in your plans for research and academic publication. Not leaving us be would prove to be a fatal mistake._  
_  
_ Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s jaws drop. _Dude, you just got threatened by a merdude._  
_  
__Threatened by a Prince merdude,_ Baekhyun adds. _Sea royalty._  
_  
_ Sehun has the decency to look somewhat ashamed, looking like he’s about to apologize before he’s interrupted by his own stomach growling.  
_  
_ Minseok’s eyes flick to the origin of the sound. _Human bodies make some of the strangest noises._  
  
Chanyeol grins. _NOT-JONGIN YOU’RE LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER !! Damn, where is Dr. Kim to appreciate my joke?_  
  
Minseok just looks on to this friend of his soulmate’s without humor.  
  
_Lets get some grub_ , Sehun suggests, thumb hooking back to gesture at the restaurant behind them.  
  
Those colloquialisms again. _Grub?_  
  
The humans just share a laugh at his expense. Some friends his soulmate has.

 

 

They walk into the restaurant, which is much colder in temperature than outside, or inside Baekhyun’s metal transport vehicle for that matter, but no one else really seems to take notice.  
  
The building is built like a dome inside, with an interesting but inaccurate representation of a school of fish covered in what is likely human-culture specific paraphernalia.  
  
It would be neat, he supposes, if it didn’t feel disrespectful to the fish. The real disrespect though, is still to come. The fish are not only already hunted for, but are laid out over chunks of ice. This, Minseok has to ask about. _Baekhyun, how is it fresh if it’s already dead?_

Baekhyun looks up from the little device he keeps on his person. _Well... fresh... is like... sometimes it’s live, but sometimes fresh is like… it was killed that morning, rather than sometime you don’t.. know and it’s been packaged and kept in ice or preserved or what have you._  
  
Minseok frowns, confused. _Why you would have to do that in the first place, why would you kill your food before feeding, doesn’t that create extra waste?_  
  
Baekhyun looks to Chanyeol, tugging on his hoodie. _Help me explain the concept of fresh versus packaged foods and why we have stuff prepared before eating them in markets and restaurants._  
  
Chanyeol scratches his cheek. _Well, um, because things rot when you don’t eat them right away and .. uh .. how do you explain our food economy_ — _I guess it’s all based on convenience, and supply and demand?_  
  
Minseok rubs at his soulmate’s forehead. _This practice...is so deeply wasteful, no wonder humans overfish the oceans, no matter how much fish we produce. You don’t catch to feed people, you catch for the concept of convenience, of imagined demand for food. And yet your species continues to disenfranchise and keep food from certain ranks of humans, yes?_  
  
Baekhyun purses his lips, trying to come up with something redeeming. _Uh._  
  
Chanyeol’s hand moves up to scratch his neck. _He’s not wrong. Sehun, you got anything?_  
  
Sehun shrugs. _Don’t look at me, I’m not the business major, I’m but a humble bio student. Fuck capitalism._  
  
Minseok should have figured they wouldn’t have any good answers to a widely systemic human issue. Humans don’t seem to like to think about these things. _Also, is there a reason why are we standing here?_  
  
_We’re standing in line to get our food_ , Sehun projects.  
  
Minseok blinks at this, still not understanding. _We have to wait?_  
  
Baekhyun lifts his chin at the other humans standing before them in ‘line’. _They came here before us, so they will be served first._  
  
_Oh, I see. They have to communicate with the humans behind the clear panels in order to get their food?_  
  
Baekhyun nods. _Yep. Wait, shit, you can’t talk, how are you going to order food?_  
  
Chanyeol interjects then. _I’ll get it, I owe Jongin some money anyway._  
  
Minseok isn’t sure what money is, or how it has come to be that Chanyeol is in a position of owing it to his soulmate, but he is grateful nonetheless. _Thank you Chanyeol, that is very kind of you._  
  
_Aw shucks, it’s no biggie, Prince Minseok. Ha, we’re really out here...grabbing poke with a Sea Prince._  
  
Baekhyun nods. _I’ve been with him all morning and I still can’t fully grasp it._  
  
The line moves up then, and it is their turn to ‘order’. At this point, Minseok can see the food and how it’s prepared now, as it was blocked off by the other patrons standing before them previously.  
  
_Chanyeol...why is the fish all… dissected into tiny boneless cubes…?_  
  
“Oh, that’s just uh, how this dish is prepared. We humans have to process our food a lot because our teeth can’t do everything other species can.”  
  
Chanyeol stops, seeing the person serving them stop to stare at him. “Oh. I mean, can we get some ahi and shrimp on white rice, with avo, tobiko and seaweed salad?”  
  
_Sorry, I forgot we have to do it this way. Uh, the fish is just prepared like that, and uh, human teeth aren’t that impressive so we have to process our food a lot before we can eat it._  
  
Minseok tilts his head. _Humans are really quite particular creatures, aren’t they?_  
  
Chanyeol snickers as he moves to pull out a small folded container from his pocket, pull out some thin sheets of something at the prompting of the human helping to serve them, before grabbing their food, set in a container on top of another, flatter container, presumably used for ease of transport. _I guess you could say that._  
  
They wait for Baekhyun and Sehun to finish ordering before they start, and Minseok promptly goes for his food with his hands, to the horror of everyone else.  
  
“NO,” _No nono no no._ That was Baekhyun. He moves to grab his soulmate’s hands, wiping them down. _Chopsticks, Prince Minseok, we use chopsticks._  
  
Baekhyun holds up something wrapped in a thin sheath, pulling it out and breaking it into two parts.  
  
_Chop...sticks?_

 _You guys, we’re going to have to teach a merperson how to use chopsticks._  
  
It takes a substantial amount of effort on behalf of both parties; Minseok ends up getting rice on the table, on Sehun’s face, breaking the chopsticks, nearly getting a broken half flung into Chanyeol’s eye and having Baekhyun retrieve several before getting it right.  
  
To be fair, Minseok’s fingers are usually webbed.  
  
At some point, the others stop to watch Minseok eat, as he doesn’t seem to be entirely put off by the meal. _You know...I am accustomed to eating fish raw without all of this.. Juice… and extra vegetation but this is actually quite delightful._  
  
Baekhyun pulls his arm down, clenching his fist. _SCORE we got a merdude that likes poke!_

 

  
—

 

 

Kyungsoo cuts Jongin some slack at some point, giving him some time before dinner to spend some time with his soulmate’s best friend, Jongdae.  
  
Apparently, one of their favorite forms of recreation involves racing one another, not just by swimming, but using these crystalline vehicles called merkabas.  
  
Jongdae brought him out to a canyon out beyond the mouth of the cavern, and showed him how to trust the merkaba, to visualize the symbol etched into the head of the vehicle inside his core, two pyramids spinning in all directions, and trusting that movement, and off they went.  
  
It was absolutely exhilarating, how fast it was. He wasn’t as fast as Jongdae, but Jongin really loved it, letting the movement in his mind’s eye take over and move him faster than he could really keep track of.  
  
He even loved swimming now. The way the water feels against his soulmate’s flesh when he goes fast, the water tugging gently on his hair, playing through it as he moves. His mood is only bolstered by being around Jongdae, whose laugh is absolutely infectious.  
  
They ride around for some time before Jongdae spots a sunken ship, calling to him to follow him there. It’s not massive, but they are able to swim about in the hull, and it offers some privacy, away from peeping minds, as Jongdae says.  
  
Jongin wants to ask Jongdae about the council and what he thinks of it, but something tells him that he should keep it to himself. This may be Minseok’s best friend, but Jongin has only met him today, doesn’t know his relations with other authorities, and doesn’t want to jeopardize anything if he can help it.  
  
Instead, Jongin decides to ask about his soulmate, because that is something he’s endlessly wondering about.  
  
_Oh, old Minseok? Well, he’s a character if you ever met one_ , Jongdae says, teeth flashing when he grins.  
  
_Please tell me about him, everyone has been really diplomatic or evasive about him, I just want to know what he’s like, what he’s interested in…_  
  
Jongdae folds his hands over his tail, where his knees would be if he had them. _Then you’ve certainly come to the right place. This is where Minseok keeps his memory bubbles._  
  
_Would_ — _would he be okay letting us access them?_  
  
_Certainly! I’m his best mate, you’re his soulmate, if not us, then who exactly?_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Jongin feels a little guilty about allowing Jongdae to talk him into accessing Minseok’s memories, but they were definitely insightful, and allowed Jongin to satisfy some of his questions.  
  
Minseok was really kind, and worried a lot about his duty, to giving back to the kingdom and being someone his mothers would be proud of.  
  
He also struggled with loneliness and heartache, feeling estranged from people his age, even estranged from his siblings when it came to duties and doing what was right by the people.

There were memories of being physically hurt, of visiting seawitch after seawitch, and memories of being coddled by his mothers when he didn’t think he was strong enough, brave enough, kind enough to be the prince.  
  
His favorite, though, was a memory he found of himself.  
  
They had met before, when they were very very small. Jongin must have been 5 or something, and he doesn’t have any recollection of this himself, but he’s there, in the bubble. Even as tiny as they were, Jongin had helped Minseok out of some kelp he was stuck in, hidden from view behind the jetty.  
  
Jongin must have gotten away from his parents somehow, so they were trying to get Minseok back into the ocean quickly, but then Minseok had pushed a shell into his hands and beckoned him closer when he was in the water.  
  
He had given him a kiss and disappeared, and somehow, it made Jongin forget. It makes him disappointed in himself, but he wonders if it was intentional, that Minseok wanted him to forget.  
  
  
  
  
  
Eventually, he and Jongdae have to part ways, Jongdae leaving him with a wink and a salute, and Jongin has to brave dinner with the family.  
  
The royal family is huge. Jongin had some idea of how big it was when they had paraded around the kingdom prior, but together in a dining hall, it was absolutely enormous. To think that most of these merfolk were his soulmate’s _siblings_.  
  
It was a lot to take in, and he did his best to remember names to faces as his soulmate’s younger sister Haena had taken to introducing everyone one by one, but the siblings numbered into the hundreds, and Jongin is just one person.  
  
The meal that is prepared looks to be nothing but a feast, but once Jongin takes into consideration that merfolk are not only somewhat voracious, but that there’s also well over two hundred people dining at once, the portion of food per person seems quite exact.  
  
Everything they’re eating is also very much alive, so Haena has to school him into eating something with moving tentacles and spikes. He’s had octopus and squid before, sure. But it was cooked, and not trying to hurt him while he was eating it.  
  
This, Jongin isn’t even entirely sure what it is, except that it is probably poisonous somehow, and very extremely sharp.

He says as much to Haena, and she rolls her eyes. _Your teeth are sharper, big brother. Just bite, Jongin, I promise it will be just fine. Look at baby Haoli! If they can eat that stormcrab whole, you can eat this sand scorpion._  
  
Jongin does his best and finds that, actually, sand scorpions are delicious.  
  
  
  
  
  
After dinner, and being questioned endlessly by sibling after sibling after sibling, Jongin is summoned by his soulmate’s mothers to their chambers for a chat.  
  
Understandably, Jongin is nervous, and his soulmate’s siblings help absolutely none when they make echoey jibes at him about how he ‘has to have a chat’.  
  
It’s all in good spirit, and on some level, it’s nice to know they feel comfortable enough joking with him, but he’s still unfamiliar with their mothers, and the thought of being interrogated or lectured by adults is making him a little nauseous.  
  
He swims into their chambers, feeling clammy and cold.  
  
_Oh no, darling why are you so white!_ Projects one mother, with iridescent braids down her back, coming close to hold Jongin’s elbow, bringing him forward.  
  
_He’s nervous, love. Not to worry, Jongin, we’re not here to scare you_. The other mother says, sitting on a rock projecting from the face of the wall. _Come in, come in._ This mother has black hair, though her eyes shimmer gold with flecks of silver and grey.  
  
They’re both very beautiful; Jongin could certainly see where his soulmate gets it from.  
  
_We only want to get to know you a little better_ , the mother gently pulling him forward by the elbow says. _Would it be alright if we braided your hair, and told you about our Minseok? Would that calm you down some?_  
  
_That would, um, that would actually be very nice._ Jongin projects back, feeling sheepish at being nervous at all in the first place.  
  
_Hmm, is it alright if I start love?_ The mother by his side asks, as she near deposits him on the rock her queen sits upon.  
  
_Of course._

 _Well_ , the mother with the iridescent braid starts, brushing the antennae at her temples up and away as she moves to begin braiding Jongin’s hair. _When our Minseok was a little little one, he used to scare us. He used to find his way out of the palace, out of the kingdom and up onto the shore._  
  
_It was an absolute curiosity,_ the other mother interjects.  
  
_Yes, and he would have dreams about the shore constantly, about seeing what was on land. We were worried that he would continue to go up to the surface because, well, no offense love, but your kind aren’t very keen on our folk, if we’re going by past experience._ She secures the end of a braid with a shell before going on.  
  
_But still, we didn’t know what to do, we had to sit him down and talk to him about the dangers of going up to the surface, and that he could go, but that he had to wait until he was older and could do it more safely, and to keep a distance from humans if he could help it._  
  
The other mother, with Minseok’s golden eyes hums, the water around them vibrating gently in waves as she moves to start braiding as well, laughing fondly. _Well, now we know why._  
  
_Yes, I suppose, now we know why,_ the mother with the braids echoes, tapping Jongin on the nose.

 

—end part 1—

 

**Author's Note:**

> please let me know in the comments if you are looking forward to the next part of the series, or if you decided to subscribe, or if there was anything that made you hurt or upset or happy!
> 
> comments, even if I might not be able to respond to them right now, are so so important to my motivation!
> 
> if you want to come yell at me, say hi, show support or are just curious, links to cc and twt, etc are on my [carrd](https://pricklyteeth.carrd.co/)! im friendly i promise
> 
> thank you for reading this far along. hope you are well ♡


End file.
